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Music

A man wearing glasses and a brown jacket who is Charlie Watts playing drums in a TV studio.

Music

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True musical virtuosos are minimalists who put roll before rock

Musicians like Muddy Waters and Charlie Watts played fewer notes than showoffs like Jeff Beck, but they were the right ones

by Mike Edison

Photo of hands playing a piano keyboard, showing close-up of fingers and a ring on one finger against dark background.

Pleasures and pastimes

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Feel free to stop striving: learn to relish being an amateur

When I rekindled my relationship with the piano and tapped into my inner amateur, I discovered a quiet room of my own

by Xenia Hanusiak

Photo of a man playing a violin in a columned, mosaic-tiled hall with people walking in the background.

Music

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Music is a philosophy, rich in ideas that language cannot say

Musical thinking offers a means for composing our lives and a philosophical foundation that embraces both sound and silence

by Xenia Hanusiak

Photo of a person with eyes closed, hands on cheeks, wearing a wristband and large hoop earrings in a dimly lit setting.

Music

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Can you ‘feel’ the music? You’re probably an empathetic person

People who are more empathic toward others are also more likely to have more feeling for the emotions communicated in music

by Benjamin Tabak & Zachary Wallmark

Photo of a person with a guitar leaning on a car in a forest with bright red foliage wearing a white shirt and hat.

Music

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Bob Dylan turned American folk traditions into modern prophecy

Bob Dylan’s ‘A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall’ is the first truly modernist folk song: it reworks tradition into a prophetic warning

by Timothy Hampton

Photo of a woman singing passionately into a microphone wearing a sparkling black and gold dress on a dark stage.

Music

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The jazz singer’s mind shows us how to improvise through life itself

Be more jazz: by letting go and embodying the present, you can learn to transform the mundane into the transcendent

by Melissa Forbes

Ancient Greek vase with red figure painting depicting a ship and mythological scene against a black background.

Music

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Bach’s piano music is intimate precision and Homeric epic in one

A hero on a journey; a circular movement; a melancholy of homecoming: why Bach is an epic poet in the Homeric tradition

by Dan Moller

Black-and-white image of a person playing the piano, focusing intently on the keys in a dark setting.

Music

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What is it about musical hooks that makes them so catchy?

From hummable riffs to striking lyrics, the catchiest hooks tell us something about the limits of human attention and memory

by Tim Byron & Jadey O’Regan

Abstract painting with bold red, blue and yellow shapes on a textured dark background.

Artists and art history

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Is the attunement of abstract art and music more than a metaphor?

How does the abstract art of Kandinsky and Klee imitate the meaning and emotion in the music of Shostakovich and Bach?

by Michelle Liu

A marble figurine seated in a chair plays a harp

Music

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Ancient Greek ideas of attunement can breathe new life into music

In Athenian philosophy, attunement is important not only in music, but also for moods, attitudes and states of mind

by John Bagby

Music

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Courtly love songs are a window into medieval sex lives

Song lyrics acted as a sexual script for aristocrats, revealing some edgy practices that ignited their imaginations

by Elizabeth Eva Leach

Photo of an antique string instrument with intricate carvings on a dark background.

Music

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A musician with sensory overload shows there are ways to adapt

When a musician’s senses are overwhelmed by music that’s too loud or stimulating, there can be another way to play

by Neesa Sunar